In the intervening period, we've seen changes to the board (the gruesome twosome being replaced by a Tatooine-based crime lord and his cronies), a frankly ridiculous nine managers, countless players come and go, one gut-wrenchingly painful relegation and a similarly triumphant promotion and a general shift from hedonistic excess to austere pragmatism.

Still, as we said in the beginning "life's never dull at St James' Park" and we've certainly been proven right on that score, and while all around us the house has fallen and been rebuilt numerous times, we're still here and still going strong: older, wiser, generally slightly more cynical, but still clinging to the dream that one day we might see us lift a major trophy.